On Mondays, I plan on trying to do a new water marbling with new colors and various designs. This first week I am going to demonstrate the process of water marbling, including the products I use and some clean up. This post will be picture heavy to describe the tutorial.
I also have a new product to share!
Image: Wicked Collection by China Glaze
This is the new Halloween collection by China Glaze called Wicked. I purchased this at Sally Beauty Supply where it retails for $9.99 or $8.99 for Beauty Club Members. It includes four China Glaze nail polishes, titled Roguish Red (a bright Halloween Orange), Glitter Goblin (a glitter with orange, blue, and silver pieces), Bizarre Blurple (a shimmery purple with a blue tinge), and Ghoulish Glow (a glow in the dark). It is a very cute set and I am happy for the purchase. Though I don't know when I am going to need to wear the glow in the dark color, but we'll see!
On to the Water Marbling! For this tutorial I used the Roguish Red and Bizarre Blurple. I also used a base coat of Seche Base and a top coat of Seche Vitte.
The products I use for water marbling are a small Dixie cup, room temperature filtered water, Vaseline, paper towels, and a bamboo skewer. I use skewers that I found at my local grocery store for $1.00 a pack. They're cheap and I can throw them away after a few uses since the paint will stick to them. Many people use orange sticks. I use Dixie cups for my marbling because they are disposable. It is important to note that any vessel you use to do marbling in will be covered in paint that you will not be able to get off. Use something that you are willing to destroy, not your grandmothers fine china.
A couple of things to note here. Firstly, I find that room temperature filtered water works best for me. When I am done with a water bottle, like the one pictured, I fill it with water from our filtered tap water and let it sit out in my office some where out of the way. Thus it is at room temperature when I need it. Secondly, there are many ways to protect your hands from the polish. A lot of people like to tape off their fingers with scotch tape. I do not like that method personally, but it might work for others who try it. The reason I do not like to tape is that I have short fingers and because the cup I use for marbling is small, I have to be able to bend my first knuckle. When I tape off my fingers, I always tape off too much, making it impossible for me to bend the knuckle the way I need to. Therefore, I use Vaseline. I swipe it around my fingernail and the cuticle and around the finger normally to the second knuckle. A thin layer will allow you to wipe off the excess that is left on after dipping. Everyone has different methods, try what works best for you.
On to the marbling process!
First, you will want to set aside some paper towels to wipe off the excess paint on. Have those ready to your lap or to your side before you get started. Secondly, fill the Dixie cup with water almost but not quite to the brim.
After using my favored base coat, in this case Seche Clear, I than put on a base layer of one of the colors I will be marbling with. In this case, I picked the orange as my base. After painting a single coat on my nails, I did not clean them up as I would clean them after I did the marbling.
After painting my nails with the base coat, I prepped my nails for dipping into the water. Using the Vaseline method, I simply rubbed the Vaseline around my finger to create a thin coat. I made sure to get all the way up to the cuticle edge and underneath the fingernail. This will help with cleanup later.
Image: Vaseline lining nail around cuticle
Now onward to the fun part! Once I was done with the prep of my fingers, I got started on creating the design on my nails. Taking one color at a time, I let a single drop fall into the waiting water in the Dixie cup. I alternated back and forth between my two colors until I had a good size "bulls eye" in the water.
Let a drop from the polish brush fall into the water. It will spread out.
Continue until there is a good sized "bulls eye".
Once I had my bulls eye, it was time to make a design in the polish. Taking my skewer stick, I placed the tip of the stick into the middle of the eye and drug the stick up to the side of the cup. Pressing the tip of the stick, gently to the side of the cup can anchor the polish to it, but will only work if the polish is still wet enough to move the stick through. I took the stick and drew it down to the bottom of the cup as well.
Once I had middle drawn out, I started to create the design. There are numerous ways to do this for different designs. For this method, I drew the sides of the polish in to the center of the eye. Doing this numerous times at different angles created the petals. After nearly every drag through the polish, I would wipe my stick off on the paper towel so it was clean to pull through the polish again. When the outer rings started to get tacky, I pulled my stick in to the next ring that was still wet and drew inward.
After pulling too much polish into the center of the design, I had a big gloppy mess. I simply dipped my wooden skewer into the design where the mess was. This "tightens" the design, taking away the excess and bringing in the polish so that it looks neat. Once I was done with the design, I dipped my prepped finger into the polish aiming it for one of the petals. I dipped my finger in making sure that the nail hit the polish first, then extended my finger into the water so it was mostly submerged. Than taking my skewer, I removed the excess polish from the top of the water. Once all of the polish was removed, I pulled my finger free of the water slowly.
The mess!
While the design was on my thumb nail, it was also all over my thumb. But after a quick, careful wipe with a paper towel ...
Later I would go back to do the final cleanup, but for the moment I just wanted to clean the Vaseline and polish off my fingers.
I then started another bulls eye and repeated the process until all of my fingers were dipped with a design.
Before Cleanup
After Cleanup and a Glitter Bomb
After I was done dipping my fingers, I cleaned off the Vaseline then did the cleanup that I normally do around the edges of my cuticles. Once I was sure it was dry, I top coated with Seche Vitte.
I hope this tutorial helps others that want to learn how to water marble. If you have any questions, or would like to see a certain design or colors please leave a comment. Enjoy!
